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Whether a settlement offered to authors whose works are being scanned into a Google database will be accepted or not must wait for the presiding judge, Denny Chin, to sort through volumes of material whose presentation began Thursday, according to news sources.

The US Department of Justice said in a filing two weeks ago to the court handling the case that the deal still needed work (IPW, US Policy, 5 February 2010), and the number of speakers at the fairness hearing on 18 February may indicate this.

Documents obtained by the Wall Street Journal, available here [pdf] and here [pdf], show 23 speakers lined up to speak against approval of the proposed settlement and only five lined up to speak in its favour. Chin said at the hearing that he would not be making an immediate ruling, several news sources reported.

The Google Books digitisation project stirred up concern in Europe as well, which Intellectual Property Watch has reported on here: IPW, IP Burble, 23 December 2009.